10 Great Books to Fill Your Holiday Down Time

If you want to read more books (and you really should want to read more books), experts often suggest laying in a stack of titles to pick up whenever the mood strikes you. Don’t wait until you’re looking to start a book to buy one, they say. Instead, gather way more than you can read at any given time, that way you’ll always have something that strikes your fancy to pick up whenever you have a moment to spare.

It’s always sensible advice. But with the holidays approaching it seems even wiser. After all, for most of us the winter months are ideal reading season – outdoor activities are less appealing, the urge to cocoon at home is upon us, and often we’re blessed with some good long breaks from work to unwind and feed our minds.

So what books should you pick up in preparation for holiday reading season? I’ve already passed along recommendations for possible fall reading, but I just stumbled on a great list of winter reads from Slack VP of engineering, blogger, and author Michael Lopp. Eclectic and inspiring, hopefully it can kick of your own considerations of what books to lay in for a holiday reading binge: ​

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life “My favorite read of the last decade,” Lopp enthuses. “Yes, it’s a surf book, but I suspect that non-surfers will consume this book.”

Of course, this list isn’t for everybody, but the larger point is simply to get you thinking about the potential of using the winter holidays soon to come as a great opportunity to cozy up and catch up on your reading.